two thousand fifteen Ford Fusion Review
The Car Connection Pro Review
- Excellent turbo fours
- Advances on the hybrid, plug-in hybrid front
- Taut, inspired treating
- Rock-star good looks
- Fine cabin design
- You pay a premium for the best mpg
- Just average rear sear room
- No rearview camera on base car
- Gloss plastic interior trim
- No more manual transmission
Good design and family-friendly intentions aren’t always mutually sensational, and the two thousand fifteen Ford Fusion offers some fine evidence of that. It’s fairly spacious, comfy, and full-featured, and it remains one of the most attractive vehicles in its segment.
Even two years after its redesign, none but the Mazda six carry the same kind of daring pic that you find in the mid-size Ford Fusion. It’s wonderful and athletic in appearance, high-tech inwards, and relatively fuel-efficient—making it an amazingly compelling consideration for the mid-size sedan shopper. That’s why we named it our two thousand thirteen Best Car to Buy.
For this model year, the Fusion sees a handful of fresh standard and optional features, as well as an available Terra Cotta style package for SE and Titanium model interiors. One feature we loved—its manual transmission option—has been deleted.
Whether you choose to look at each individual detail or the sum of its parts, the Fusion’s design is a standout for sedan styling at any price. The looks is half-Hyundai, Half-Aston Martin, thanks to its hexagonal grille, and we see the rakish roofline of the Audi A7 in its rear quarters. In profile, it’s one hundred percent Ford, though–falling in nicely with the brand’s other vehicles. The interior blends excellent materials with advanced technologies, all of which are managed from its tablet-like center console.
The Fusion’s cabin isn’t camped by the sexy silhouette, either. It’s a little longer overall than before, with a much longer wheelbase, which adds up to better legroom all around. Thinner and firmer front seats also help bring a lot more back-seat space; and even the base manual front seats are fairly convenient and supportive. Headroom’s fine, provided you avoid the optional sunroof. And overall this is an interior that lends a feeling of quality, with good materials everywhere you look (and feel), fine noise damping and stimulation quelling, and satisfying sounds as you open and close doors. The trunk is sixteen cubic feet, big for the class, and the Fusion has ample storage all around the cabin, with a stow space under the center stack, bottle holders in the doors, and a decently sized glovebox.
The safety assessment here is superb. Five-star overall ratings from the federal government plus IIHS Top Safety Pick status, as well as safety features like front knee airbags and standard Bluetooth hands-free all combine to give you a lot of reassurance. And for 2015, the inflatable rear seatbelt system that’s been suggested on some of Ford’s crossovers is now available on the Fusion.
The base-level engine, a 178-horsepower, Two.5-liter four-cylinder, doesn’t come close to performing as well as the rakish design suggests, but it’s adequate with the six-speed automatic. If we dreamed the spectacle of a V-6, essentially, we’d head straight for the Two.0-liter EcoBoost turbo four, with its two hundred forty hp and two hundred seventy lb-ft of torque. It’s quick to rev, and the automatic’s shifts click quickly via spanking paddle controls. In the middle is a 1.5-liter turbo four, coupled to an automatic transmission. The former manual transmission model was one of our favorites, and kind of a loner in this segment–which explains why it’s been dropped.
Even in its most powerful form, at about Three,700 pounds with the available all-wheel drive, the Fusion is fairly light for this class, and with well-tuned steering and a taut yet absorbent feel, it has rock-hard, plane, reassuring cornering that’s not to the detriment of rail quality, combined with a nimble, impatient feeling that’s missing from most mid-size sedans–except for the latest Mazda 6. Of note for two thousand fifteen is a fresh spectacle tire option with summer-only rubber.
Fully loaded, the Fusion fits just under $40,000, but some of the best builds–with the smaller EcoBoost engine–should slot just under $30,000. For that, you’ll get navigation, blind-spot monitors, leather seats, a rearview camera and rear parking sensors. Even the base car includes cruise control; the usual power features; a CD player and an auxiliary jack; cloth seats; tilt/telescoping steering; and steering-wheel audio and phone controls. Power front seats, leather upholstery, and a navigation system are options, as are all-wheel drive and a suite of safety features like lane-keeping assist and active park assist.
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